Duane Sand on Social Security

2000 Republican Challenger for Senate (ND)

Raise retirement age; raise cap; apply means-testing

Sand rolled out a plan for fixing Social Security, saying bold ideas are needed to fix America's problems. "This isn't a 5-year fix. This isn't a 10-year fix. This is a 100-year fix," Sand said during a press conference. His plan has four primary points.

Reduce the combined employer-employee tax rate from 12.4% to 7.6%.

Establish a retirement age of 70 for everyone born after 2024.

Eliminate the current contribution cap, or the cap at which annual income is taxed for Social Security.
The cap in 2011 was $106,800.

Apply means testing to Social Security benefits based on retirement income needs, which he said would allow the program to cease being an entitlement regardless of income and act as a "true safety-net program."

By enacting those reforms, Sand said, more people would be paying into the program for longer so everyone would have adequate Social Security funds to draw from to supplement their retirement.